RESOURCES

Pollution Prevention Week

Pollution Prevention Week 2010... and Beyond!

What if everyone ...took one small action to reduce their environmental impact?

For the 20th anniversary of the Pollution Prevention Act we asked everyday people just like you to make a short video that shows how making small changes in your daily lives can have a big, positive impact on the environment. To keep the momentum from Pollution Prevention Week going throughout the year, we are going to keep on posting videos... check back daily to see what's new! To see all the video responses on our YouTube site, click here.

Note: videos responses submitted through October 15, 2010 are still eligible for the grand prize to be announced at the Western Sustainability and Pollution Prevention Network conference to be held in San Diego!

2010 Pollution Prevention Week Video Contest Winner!We couldn’t have said it better ourselves! Reduce what you use, reuse what you have. Finding new uses for your old stuff (jars, paper) is a great way to keep them out of the landfill and means that you buy less of things like containers and paper. These kids get an A+ in conserving resources and minimizing waste!

Other VideosSnow fields are natural reservoirs and the snow melt can help renew sources for groundwater. When used for recreation, people can appreciate the outdoors, and may be more vested in protecting their natural resources and environment.

Educating and providing resources to interested consumers enables them to make more informed decisions, which is especially important when the decisions have long term consequences.

Locally grown produce that does not use synthetic chemicals reduces the need for fossil fuels used in transportation, and helps keep chemicals like pesticides out of our bodies and out of our waterways, where they can affect aquatic wildlife.

Inspiring others to conserve resources and to reduce their waste can make a significant contribution to Pollution Prevention. An important driver for making society sustainable is for consumers to be willing to change their perception of their priorities. For example, we all need a bag to bring our groceries home, but do we need a single use bag? While recycling is better than disposal, there are environmental impacts to recycling. Reuseable bags generate less waste and require less energy than single use bags.

This video shows how we can be affected by the products we use, and the importance of keeping our environment clean. It also illustrates an important lesson: "Bad things happen to people who pollute!"

Reusing vegetable oil to make biodiesel creates an alternative fuel for vehicles that reduces non-CO2 air emissions and gives a secondary use to a material that does not need to be drilled for or transported over very long distances. Besides that, the Tahoe GreenFEST looks like a whole lot of fun!

Plastic is made from petroleum, a non-renewable fossil fuel that emits greenhouse gases. Recycling plastic is one part of resource conservation because it expands the availability of resources that would be needed to make petroleum based materials and may decrease the demand for raw materials. Recycling is the first step we all should take to conserve our precious resources!

Here's another video that shows how little things that everyone can do add up! By turning off the water while you brush your teeth, you save at least 1.5 gallons per minute. If everyone in California turned off the water while brushing, they would save over 100 million gallons of water per day. Save the planet!

Single-use bags, both paper and plastic, take resources (fossil fuels, water, chemicals) to make and to recycle. Reusing bags decreases the amount of waste in our landfills and helps keep our communities clean, as they inadvertently end up polluting our streets, creeks, and beaches. If everyone brought their own bags we'd live in a much cleaner world!

Alternative transportation methods (biking, walking, efficient vehicles) lower the use of fossil fuels, which contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. Reusing bags decreases the amount of waste in our landfills and helps keep our communities clean, as they inadvertently end up polluting our streets, creeks, and beaches. Simple resource conservation can make a big difference if we all pitch in and do our part! Resource Conservation and Waste Minimization- We couldn’t have said it better ourselves! Reduce what you use, reuse what you have. Finding new uses for your old stuff (jars, paper) is a great way to keep them out of the landfill and means that you buy less of things like containers and paper.

Reuse is the best way to minimize waste!!! Refilling your water bottle saves the fossil fuels (oil) needed to make a new bottle, which decreases air pollution. It also means that you are using (and maybe filtering) your own tap water, which reduces the use of fossil fuels for transporting the bottled water. Here's some other creative ideas on how to reuse plastic bottles!

We thought this video had a lot to say about pollution prevention in terms of waste minimization, sustainability, and green technology. Organic wastes are rich in nutrients that can replace artificial fertilizers. They are also a significant source of methane, a greenhouse gas that is more potent than CO2. Trapping methane not only diverts those emissions, but also allows them to be used as renewable energy. Imagine if all our wastes could be used to create energy!

We liked this video on resource conservation because it highlights how easy it is to make a small change that can quickly add up if everyone did it. For example, by turning off the water while you brush your teeth, you save at least 1.5 gallons per minute. If everyone in California turned off the water while brushing, they would save over 100 million gallons of water per day!

The views presented in these videos are those of the contest submitters and do not necessarily reflect those of DTSC. Mention of any commercial enterprises, organizations, or other publications does not mean that DTSC endorses them.